Route reliability record
EWR→ORF
Newark to Norfolk
- Flights
- 867
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Distance
- 284 mi
- Carriers
- 2
This route carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 6.3% of scheduled flights never operate, against 1.9% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 867 EWR to ORF flights, with a median arrival 10 minutes early.
Best time to fly EWR to ORF: a 8am–11am departure, ideally on a Friday. Flights in that window arrived on time 85.9% of the time and Friday flights 84.7%, against 80.3% for the route overall.
The US average over the same twelve months is 77.3%, so there is little to separate this route from the country as a whole. The variation that matters here is internal: which carrier, and what time of day.
Key figures
On time
80.3%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 811 completed flights
Avg delay
56 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
6.34%
National rate is 1.89%
Best carrier
Republic
83.4% on time across 708 flights
These figures cover 867 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The median arrival is 10 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.
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Carrier by carrier
Which airline is most reliable on EWR to ORF
Only one carrier clears this site's 365-flight floor here, so there is no comparison to draw. The table below is the full picture.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 708 | 83.4% | 55 min | 7.20% | B− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 159 | 67.1% | 59 min | 2.52% | C |
Timetable by Aviasales, a Travelpayouts partner. Booking through it may earn this site a commission at no cost to you; it changes no figure here.
Best ways to make this trip
The most reliable ways to fly Newark to Norfolk
Every airline on this route and on the routes between nearby airports, ranked by how often a scheduled flight actually operated and arrived on time. 2 of the top 3 use a different airport at one end.
| Option | Airline | Success | On time | Cancelled | Best departure | Most punctual flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. JFK → ORFNew York to Norfolk | Republic Airways | 77.4% | 82.4% | 6.02% | 11am–2pm, Tue | YX 4359 15:30 |
| 2. EWR → ORFNewark to Norfolk | Republic Airways | 77.4% | 83.4% | 7.20% | 8am–11am, Tue | — |
| 3. LGA → ORFNew York to Norfolk | Republic Airways | 69.0% | 74.0% | 6.82% | 5am–8am, Sat | YX 4589 21:29 |
Success is the share of scheduled flights that operated and arrived less than 15 minutes late, so a cancelled flight counts against it. “(route)” means the best time comes from every carrier on the route rather than this airline alone.
Departure window
The best time of day to leave
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 11 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am—
- 8am–11am273 flights85.9%
- 11am–2pm—
- 2pm–5pm167 flights81.6%
- 5pm–8pm68 flights80.3%
- 8pm–5am359 flights75.2%
Scale runs 65% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the morning departure. Flights leaving between 8am–11am arrive on time 85.9% of the time, against 75.2% for the overnight window. That is 11 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8pm–5am window is the busiest, with 359 flights scheduled in it.
Explore
Filter EWR to ORF by airline, time, month and day
Pick a breakdown and a carrier. The dashed mark on each row is the same slice for every US flight.
On EWR to ORF, the best departure window is 8am–11am at 85.9% on time and the worst is 8pm–5am at 75.2%, a wide gap of 10.7 points. All US flights leaving 8am–11am ran 83.9%.
- 5–8am—
- 8–11am85.9%
- 11am–2pm—
- 2–5pm81.6%
- 5–8pm80.3%
- 8pm–5am75.2%
best all US flightsScale 60% to 95%. Cells under 30 flights show a dash.
Across the year
When delays peak on this route
This route's year swings by 22 points from best month to worst, which is wide. An annual average tells you very little about the week you are actually flying, so read the strip rather than the headline if your dates are fixed.
Delays peak in September, when the on-time rate falls to 66.7%. February is the strongest month at 89.1%. Moving a flexible trip across that boundary buys 22 points. July was the busiest month here, with 112 flights.
Across the week, Friday is the strongest day at 84.7% on time and Saturday the weakest at 72.8%, a spread of 12 points.
Delay causes
Why this route gets delayed
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 46% of the 8,999 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 46%Late-arriving aircraft
- 30%National Airspace System
- 21%Carrier
- 3%Extreme weather
46% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 8,999 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 18 to one. The split is drawn from 8,999 reported delay minutes.
The practical consequence: the 8am–11am departure is the one that starts clean. Its aircraft has no earlier leg to be late from, which is exactly why that window shows 85.9% on time here.
Cancellations run at 6.34%, against 1.89% nationally. That is about one flight in fifteen cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
Connections and stage length
What a delay here actually costs
7.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.3%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
At 284 miles this is a short hop, and stage length matters more than it looks. A flight this short spends under two hours in the air, which leaves almost nothing to claw back a late pushback with. Delay here is decided on the ground, in the turn, which is why the 8am–11am window matters as much as it does.
The return leg runs 82.5% on time across 867 flights, within 2 points of this direction. The two legs are scored separately because they usually differ; on this city pair they happen not to.
One caution: this is a thin sample. 867 flights over twelve months is enough to clear this site's floor but not enough to pin the rate down tightly, and a single bad week moves it by more than a point. Treat the grade as a rough reading.
Work out the risk of missing a connection in ORF after this flight
What to do with this
Booking this route
Put together: the delay figures matter less here than the 6.34% cancellation rate. A late arrival costs you about an hour; a cancelled flight costs you the day. Book the 8am–11am departure so there is still a schedule behind you if it goes wrong, and treat a same-day connection as optimistic. 811 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
EWR to ORF questions
How often is EWR to ORF delayed?
About one flight in five arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 19.7% of the 867 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
How reliable is EWR to ORF compared with the rest of the country?
80.3% of flights arrive on time here against a national 77.3%, a difference of 3 points in its favour. That is worth a B− on this site's grading scale.
What time of day has the fewest delays on EWR to ORF?
The 8am–11am departure window is the strongest at 85.9% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 75.2%, 11 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are September delays on EWR to ORF?
September is the weakest month at 66.7% on time, compared with 89.1% in February. Across the year that is 22 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- ORF to EWR — the return legseparate record
- Newark Liberty International (EWR) delay statistics
- Republic Airways on EWR to ORF83.4%
- United Airlines on EWR to ORF67.1%
- EWR to MCO, a related route77.9%
- ATL to ORF, a related route78.7%
- EWR to ATL, a related route76.9%
- Republic Airways on-time record83.4%
- United Airlines on-time record67.1%
- The US routes with the most cancellations
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
Direction matters. EWR to ORF and ORF to EWR are scored separately because they are separate operations, with different departure banks and different aircraft. Compare the return leg.
Embed EWR to ORF’s on-time badge on your site
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Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.